Aristide Economopoulos/The Star-LedgerFrom left, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James field questions from the media prior to handing out 800 boxes of food to families at a Brooklyn Boys and Girls Club today.

NEW YORK — They canceled their “Homecoming Tour,” which was to have featured all these locked out NBA stars playing exhibition games for charity, but Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade still showed up to hand out boxes of food to needy families at a Brooklyn Boys and Girls Club today.

The four hoop stars weren’t ready to deal with heavy questions from the press, like whether Paul expects to join Anthony on the Knicks either via trade this season or as a free agent next summer. Or whether the new collective bargaining agreement will prevent future teams from assembling star-studded rosters through free agency, as the Miami Heat did when it signed Wade, James and Chris Bosh before last season.

Nor was Anthony, who led Syracuse to an NCAA title in his one season at the school in 2003, interested in talking about the Bernie Fine controversy (“Man, my heart goes out to the families and that’s it,” he said. “I have no comment about the Fine situation or the Boeheim situation. That’s a sensitive situation, a sensitive topic right now, that I don’t even want to go near that.”)

But the four all proclaimed themselves thrilled that the 5-month-old lockout soon will be over, and they’ll all be back playing basketball by Christmas.

“I think it’s been a long process,” Anthony said. “We’ve been dealing with the lockout for a long time now, and for it to finally come to an end and get basketball back, get the fans back, excited, to watching basketball — we’re all excited to be out there.”

“I’m just excited personally — not only for myself and my team, but for the fans,” James said. “I’m thankful that we were able to get this resolved and the fans can get back to watching the game that they love.”

In the brief, impromptu news conference inside the gym where the four players handed out 800 boxes of food to families and then later delivered a clinic for local kids, every answer James gave came back to James’ happiness that the fans can have their game back.

Wade also mentioned the arena workers and businesses who were adversely affected by the cancellation of games.

“As I said on Twitter, I can’t wait to walk into our arena and see all the people that’s become a part of my family for the last eight years,” Wade said. “Now everyone gets back to work, so I’m excited for that.”

Paul, who can opt out of his contract with the New Orleans Hornets next summer and become a free agent, steered clear of any suggestion that he might be angling to be a Knick next season, and professed his love for New Orleans.

“My heart is in New Orleans and right now, the reason I’m here in New York is” to support Anthony’s charity, Paul said. “Us three — other than Melo — could have been anywhere right now, but it was all about these kids and giving out these boxes, and giving these families an opportunity that they may have never gotten before, so I know I’m just happy to be here and be a part of it, to give these boxes out to the needy families and then going over to the clinic, seeing the smiles on the kids’ faces when we show up.”

Notes: Bodog.com, the oddsmaking site, has set the Heat as 9-to-4 favorites to win the NBA title and even money to win the Eastern Conference. The Nets are 75-to-1 to win the title and 50-to-1 to win the East. The Knicks are 20-1 to win the title and 9-1 to win the East.